Su Jinglan went to the liquor cabinet and took out a bottle of red wine. Without decanting it, she uncorked the bottle and poured the contents straight into a tall-stemmed glass, downing it in one gulp.
She couldn’t taste the tart sweetness of the grapes. The intense alcohol burned her throat going down, leaving a bitter aftertaste. Su Jinglan leaned heavily on the table and let out a deep sigh. Beneath her lightly trembling lashes, her eyes reddened, and she poured herself another glass.
Footsteps approached from afar. Without even turning around, Su Jinglan knew who it was. In this house, aside from herself, there was only Ning Jiuwei.
Su Jinglan lifted her glass and let out a soft chuckle. In the quiet home, the sound rang clearly in Ning Jiuwei’s ears. Still facing away, she spoke to her. “Would Designer Ning like a glass too? It helps with sleep.”
Ning Jiuwei rarely drank alcohol. She preferred to keep her mind sharp while ensuring her body remained unharmed.
“Sure.” She responded softly, her halted footsteps resuming as she drew closer to Su Jinglan.
Just as she reached her side, Su Jinglan set down her glass and turned away in the opposite direction. “Help yourself, Designer Ning. If there’s not enough, grab another from the cabinet.”
The crimson wine reflected the light strips on the dining room ceiling, sparkling like a field of stars. Watching Su Jinglan walk away, Ning Jiuwei picked up the glass she’d set down. The rich aroma of the wine oxidized slowly in the air, wafting toward her. Ning Jiuwei sniffed it, then placed it back on the table.
Su Jinglan clearly didn’t want to give her a chance to talk. Ning Jiuwei could tell.
Alcohol could heighten the mood, but it could also cloud the mind. She and Su Jinglan didn’t need liquid courage for what lay between them. Ning Jiuwei headed to the guest bedroom to find her.
The rightful owner of the house was sleeping in the room meant for visitors. Ning Jiuwei knocked on the door and asked through it, “Can I come in?”
Pressing close to the door, she heard no response from within. Ning Jiuwei tried the handle—the door was locked from the inside. Su Jinglan wasn’t giving her an opening.
“Our relationship right now isn’t suitable for my dad, mom, and the others to know about,” Ning Jiuwei explained. Then she fell silent.
She and Su Jinglan had bared themselves to each other and shared their bodies, but they still hadn’t opened their hearts. Hearts guarded for so long couldn’t be laid bare easily. She didn’t even know where to begin.
Su Jinglan heard Ning Jiuwei’s words.
The guest bedroom was no match for the master in layout or size. Staring at the locked door and waiting for Ning Jiuwei’s next words, Su Jinglan stripped off her constricting clothes and tossed them casually onto the stool at the foot of the bed.
But no second sentence came.
What relationship did they even have now? They were just colleagues who’d slept together. Su Jinglan let out a self-mocking laugh.
A layer of mist rose in her reddened eyes. She closed them, forcing the emotions back down, then stepped into the bathroom and turned on the overhead shower. Under the scalding hot water, she pushed thoughts of Ning Jiuwei aside for the moment.
Ning Jiuwei waited outside the guest bedroom for a long time, but Su Jinglan never opened the door. It felt like her heart was being squeezed, suffocating her with discomfort. She lowered her gaze and respected Su Jinglan’s wishes, giving her the space she wanted.
The master bedroom felt emptier without its owner, so quiet it made her want to leave. Ning Jiuwei considered going home, but her heart tugged at her like it was bound by invisible threads, each step forward twisting with pain.
The neatly made bed showed no signs of last night’s indulgence. The clean, fresh air carried the scent of the Blue Windbell, free of any lingering provocative odors. Ning Jiuwei’s gaze lingered on the bed for a long moment, filled with vivid memories, before she entered the bathroom.
She shed her clothes piece by piece. Looking down at her exposed body, Ning Jiuwei noted that Su Jinglan had been so gentle she’d left not a single mark. Yet the swell of affection had been clear and profound. Having experienced it once, she could never forget it.
Her body burned hotter than the cascading water. Surging desire eroded her reason. Ning Jiuwei clenched her fists, fighting to hold back.
She had never taken care of such urges herself. The ache there throbbed insistently, showing no sign of fading anytime soon. The illicit temptation grew in the night, urging her toward forbidden actions. Remembering that this was Su Jinglan’s home, she switched to cold water to shock herself back to clarity.
Hot and cold alternated, leaving Ning Jiuwei shivering uncontrollably. She turned the shower back to hot, letting the memories replay the intimate details without restraint.
She washed for nearly an hour. Panting heavily, Ning Jiuwei dried off, slipped into her pajamas, and returned to the bedroom feeling fresh and composed.
She left the bedroom door ajar, allowing a glimpse of the space outside. Aside from the bedroom light, everything else was dark.
Ning Jiuwei went to the guest bedroom again.
“Su Jinglan, are you asleep?” The darkness of night softened her voice instinctively. She knocked lightly and held her breath, waiting for a reply.
The bedside lamp was on. Hearing Ning Jiuwei’s voice, Su Jinglan switched it off, rolled over, and buried her face in the pillow, staying silent.
In the darkness.
Su Jinglan suppressed her fondness and made no reaction to Ning Jiuwei’s arrival.
She gave the door another try, and unexpectedly, the lock on the bedroom door clicked open. Ning Jiuwei gently closed the guest bedroom door, relying on her memory of having slept here one night before, and made her way precisely to the bedside.
Holding her breath, she listened to the breathing sounds from the bed. Ning Jiuwei leaned over, bracing her hands on the mattress on either side of Su Jinglan’s body. Her approaching breath carried the familiar scent of Su Jinglan’s shower gel—clean and pleasant.
“Can I come up and sleep?” Ning Jiuwei asked.
Her initiative made Su Jinglan’s body heat up, her blood surging with the impulse to possess her. No, she couldn’t give in to Ning Jiuwei’s seduction so easily. Su Jinglan secretly pinched herself and stayed silent.
“Su Jinglan, I know you’re not asleep.” Her fingertip traced over the soft blanket, lifting the corner and slipping underneath to touch a warm arm. Su Jinglan shifted slightly, and Ning Jiuwei swung one long leg over, half-kneeling on the bed with her knee bent.
Pinned in place by Ning Jiuwei, Su Jinglan’s adrenaline spiked, her blood racing. She suppressed her breathing and said in a muffled voice, “Does Designer Ning need her plaything again?”
She rolled over onto her back and hooked her arm around Ning Jiuwei’s neck, drawing close to her ear. “Ning Jiuwei, even when you’re touched by someone you don’t like, is your reaction always this intense?”
That spot was highly sensitive, reacting strongly to the slightest stimulation. Ning Jiuwei had never been intimate with anyone else—only Su Jinglan had ever explored there.
Su Jinglan’s words stung like a needle prick to the heart. Ning Jiuwei’s lips moved, but she couldn’t voice her rebuttal.
You’re not someone I don’t like.
Someone she didn’t like wouldn’t even get the chance to get close, let alone share a bed.
“Designer Ning wants it, but I don’t feel like doing it tonight.” Su Jinglan rejected Ning Jiuwei against her true feelings, fighting back her longing.
Using the brief contact to ease the surging emotions, Su Jinglan released her hold on Ning Jiuwei, shifted downward in the bed, and buried half her face under the covers.
Her body, which had no resistance to Ning Jiuwei, gave an honest reaction despite her efforts to control it. Su Jinglan pressed her legs together. Once Ning Jiuwei returned to the master bedroom, she’d probably have to take care of it herself.
Ning Jiuwei didn’t leave. Even though Su Jinglan’s words were hurtful, staying made her seem a bit shameless, but she lifted her other foot onto the bed and lay down beside Su Jinglan.
There was only one blanket on the bed. As Ning Jiuwei lifted it to slide in, Su Jinglan grabbed it and yanked it down, trapping it under her arm. Her long leg pressed down on the corner, denying Ning Jiuwei any chance to touch her.
Her actions were inexplicably adorable. Ning Jiuwei paused for a moment. The remaining blanket barely covered her body as she scooted closer to Su Jinglan, sleeping on the edge of the pillow.
Su Jinglan fought to suppress her raging desire, diverting her attention to work. She reviewed the progress of various projects and pondered the company’s strategic development plans.
The idea of cooling her ardor with work was sound in theory, but nearly impossible in practice. The moment her focus slipped, her thoughts were pulled back to the person behind her. Su Jinglan turned her head slightly—the faint sound was crystal clear in the quiet bedroom. Ning Jiuwei tugged at the blanket, pulling out the portion trapped under Su Jinglan.
“I never saw you as a plaything,” Ning Jiuwei said tentatively as she reached out to embrace Su Jinglan. Su Jinglan didn’t resist. She shifted onto the same pillow, murmuring against the nape of her neck, “I’ve never thought of you as my plaything. If anything, last night, I was the one who was your plaything.”
All her senses and emotions had been under Su Jinglan’s control, transformed in such a gentle way that she no longer felt like herself.
Ning Jiuwei’s explanation sounded to Su Jinglan like an attempt to shift the blame. Being put on the spot like that made Su Jinglan feel like she was the one who had toyed with emotions and then the body.
That wasn’t true at all.
Su Jinglan removed the hand from her body and scooted forward, away from the Ning Jiuwei behind her who was twisting right and wrong.
However far she moved away, Ning Jiuwei followed by the same distance. After that brief separation, their bodies pressed together again. Ning Jiuwei wrapped an arm around Su Jinglan’s waist, her entire body flush against her back. She lifted her head slightly to rest it on her shoulder and whispered softly, “Su Jinglan, are you listening?”
Such proactive behavior from Ning Jiuwei was too hard to resist. In just a couple of exchanges, Su Jinglan forgave her in her heart.
She might have forgiven her inwardly, but she wasn’t about to let Ning Jiuwei off easily with her words. Su Jinglan let out a soft scoff, her tone flat and emotionless as she replied slowly, “I heard you loud and clear, Designer Ning. You think you’re the plaything.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“What does Designer Ning need her little tool for?” Su Jinglan switched to a new term for herself. “To while away the long night, relieve your worries, spark your inspiration, and ensure you get a good night’s sleep?”
Last night, Ning Jiuwei had slept so soundly in her arms—better than any other time they’d shared a bed. She hadn’t tossed and turned in the middle of the night, her breathing and heartbeat hadn’t suddenly quickened, and there were no mumbled murmurs in her sleep.
Ning Jiuwei fell silent. No matter what she said tonight, Su Jinglan probably wouldn’t believe her.
She fell silent, and Su Jinglan grew displeased as well. Lightly furrowing her brows, she turned to Teacher Ning, who was clinging to her from behind and refusing to let go. “Why aren’t you saying anything? Everything I said is true—you can’t refute a word of it, can you?”
Some things didn’t need to be learned; they came naturally. Ning Jiuwei felt her heart pounding out of nowhere. She pinched Su Jinglan’s chin and gently turned her face around. “You’re not just a tool either. You’re Su Jinglan.”
Su Jinglan parted her lips to speak, but a scorching kiss sealed them shut. Ning Jiuwei poured her passionate feelings into the embrace, cupping her cheeks and teasing her earlobes. In an instant, it ignited the desire they’d both been suppressing.
She truly hated to push her away. Su Jinglan savored the unfamiliar sensations Ning Jiuwei brought her for a moment longer, then clung to her rationality and slowly eased her back. “And you still claim you’re not just a tool? What you’re doing to me right now, Teacher Ning—is that the sort of ‘friendly exchange’ colleagues have?”
Su Jinglan couldn’t help but thrill at the thought of Ning Jiuwei forcing a kiss on her. If Jiuwei actually tried to take charge, she probably wouldn’t stand a chance tonight.
“Ning Jiuwei,” she pressed, “do you dare take me home to meet your family? Do you dare let them know about us?”
Ning Jiuwei bit her lip and said nothing. Su Jinglan answered for her. “You don’t. You don’t even dare to date me.”
~~~
